"Children would not understand if they still say things like this now... Let's leave it to A now. He is someone who cannot exist in this era."
"No! Lord Ash He is our——"
"Bad... Look..." Ash's voice made them follow their gaze to the other him. "The real Ash will be back soon. It only takes a while for you to meet the person you want to see..."
"Really?"
Walking past the black girl who got out of the way, Ayumi couldn't help but look back.
"How pitiful..."
"Yeah, that's sad."
For them, both in terms of birth method and thinking circuit, the only one she knows is Ash, right? Now I am still being used by others...
I thought the same thing about you back then. As long as you can use it, you will use it, even if you say you are taking the initiative... Haha.
In the end, I have been helped by you, and I can't help but want to support each other with you. In this way, as the "rational" part of me, I am really useless in my name.
"I'm sorry, Ayumi..."
It's too short, the time with you is really too little, so short that neither you nor my true feelings can bloom. Heart Flower is still so young.
"What did you say suddenly?" I don't remember anything you need to apologize to me for. Didn't I agree that I would help you voluntarily?
Ash didn't answer, just chuckled twice.
"As long as you have that kind of heart... anyone can become it, Pretty Cure?"
You are different from me who only had loneliness for company at the beginning. You said you were lonely, but at least you had good friends and were helped later. These experiences made you a good child who is willing to lend a helping hand to strangers.
You were obviously awkward and had your thoughts during the first terrible meeting, but in the end you still chose to help me when I was alone, which makes me feel so happy now when I think about it.
I have always hated being alone.
"What a wonderful world... A."
After passing through Bad End Precure, through Regina and Little Dark, through the painful and sad Lei, through the speechless and trembling Miyuki, the two finally came to love and their other selves.
"Are you here... to say goodbye to him?"
"Probably... that's it, cough!"
Children are not afraid of death, they are afraid of being forgotten before they even care about it.
Adults, it's just the opposite.
"It's so embarrassing. In the end, you still lost to Love and Peace, Mr. Villain...?"
You lost to your weaker side.
"You... are here..."
Seeing another man of his, he let go of Mana's hand and squeezed out the last bit of strength to respond to him.
"It's better not to be like this, right?" Lei Lei, who guessed that he might want to have a final settlement with her, felt compassion. "This would be too much for you..."
"No, Lei..." Ash shook his head. "This is something only he and I can do."
No one's obstruction is of any use.
"I won't admit defeat..." The man let go of Mana's hand and raised his hand to point at the young man in front of him. He was still full of unwillingness at this moment. "You will never think that you have won... Even in the end... no matter which one of us worked hard, it was all in vain... This is the biggest irony."
Obviously as long as I still have strength... I can continue to fight——
"I lost, we all lost..." Ash nodded and admitted, slowly passing by as the ashes continued to shake off. "The ones who win in the end are them and him."
The young man looked back at Pretty Cure, who had different expressions but no one was happy. How similar was the sadness on their faces to the last time they parted?
What they long for is the existence of Ash, so they have to call me out.
"?"
The girl who was about to take a step further stopped in place. When she turned around, she saw the hands that were holding her tightly.
"Ayumi."
"Have you told me, A?" The girl forced her smile to him. "I will help you until the end... I want to hold your hand too."
You are... my most important friend! Isn't it?
The girl's clenched hand was covered by the boy's other palm. Just when Ayumi was pleasantly surprised, he felt something cold slipping into his palm.
"Eh?"
Ayumi, who instinctively lowered his head and opened his mouth to take a look, was stunned. Lying quietly in his hand was the strange coin with one light and one dark that he had picked up and returned to him.
The coin that he once inexplicably said was a gift from him, this coin with a horizontal crack in the center was now delivered to him.
"Although in this short period of time, you and I probably can't be considered friends..."
"But, this is my treasure. It would be a pity if I lost it... Please take it for me."
A smiled, gently patted Ayumi's hand away with his other hand, and asked her to step back.
The hand you should hold is no longer mine.
"A——!"
The girl exclaimed.
"Ash!"
Someone noticed something different here and started running.
And Ash has already stood in front of another "Ash".
"I once said that we are not the same... but, I was wrong."
"I don't need..."
I understand, and you understand, we understand everything about each other, even if you are just desire and I am just emptiness.
You and me, we are one and the same.
You lost me and I lost you. Now we are connected by this same feeling.
"Now(Now)..."
Ash clasped his hands and raised them high above his head, then smashed down when Ayumi was just one step behind him.
Now you won't feel lonely anymore.
"We are one."
When Ash's fist smashed hard into "Ash"'s chest.
The Core Medal, which met light and dark, also broke into two halves in the girl's hand.
"[So, do you really want to come with me? Go and help me collect Dark Echo?]"
Looking at the system panel he designed for him in front of him, the young man Ash said excitedly.
"Yes, take me there quickly!"
I was able to meet those heroes who have never existed in reality. I don't want to stay in this broken world that is only wrapped in desire and has no human heart at all.
He couldn't wait to start traveling with his first "friend".
"[Even though... you might never come back?]"
A world-traversing gate composed of a burst of overlapping shadows appeared in front of the young man.
"Ah, anyway, this world cannot tolerate me in terms of intelligence or character."
In the end, either I will destroy him or she will destroy me. In that case - at this moment, the young man suddenly thought of something and looked towards the other room.
... Forget it, since I gave up my genius performance, he has talked to me less and less. He will be happy if I disappear, right?
"[You will gain unparalleled stories when you enter this door.]"
"[But as a price, you will also lose something important——]"
"I understand! Anyway, whether it's my body, my memory, my life, whatever, I'll give it to you!"
The young man with only wonderful things in his eyes stepped into the door without hesitation.
The boy ran, constantly traveling with the system through various worlds, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman, or other worlds with heroes - which greatly satisfied the hero's heart, which was exactly his wish.
But as he traveled, the once fearless smile was gradually replaced by an extremely empty joy... He even forgot the reason in the first place and looked at the meaning of "Dark Echo" - that is, the resentment and dark cause and effect carried by countless heroes. When these "misfortunes" transferred and gathered in Ash, the sad hero could also obtain "happiness".
The boundless darkness washed away over and over again. Even with the "help" of the system that washed his memory every time, the boy who once loved heroes the most still lost his "eyes" to chase the light.
Fighting - fighting, only fighting is the purest, fighting with darkness, fighting with light, fighting with friends, fighting with enemies, so only the memory of fighting remains.
So he became "bad" and became more and more free-willed until he was stopped and remembered again and again, enjoying it again and again.
The boy with only the "system" by his side has turned into a man. No matter how deep the bond was with his companions in the past, he may never see him again. He becomes more and more empty when he is alone. Only Mugen, who has learned to become a companion with loneliness, is confused...
"Hi, Ash."
"So here I am."
A hugged the boy who could only move forward alone from the sea of Dark Echo that surrounded him.
"We are not alone."
There are countless hands stretched out in Dark Echo, the hands in the armor, the hands of Giant of Light, the hands relying on each other - and there are more pairs of different hands. There are familiar people and strangers in these hands. As written in countless stories, it is people's hands that will gradually sink into the dark world and push them into the bright sky.
It was the hands of these people that pushed Ash out from the darkness.
"All will be heroes, all heroes will save us."
The girls' hands then grasped Ash's hand from above and pulled him up from the darkness.
"Look up."
Above Dark Echo.
"Everyone is waiting for you."
It is the boundless bright morning sunshine.
"Anyone with that heart can become Pretty Cure."
But, you still have to fight, right? After all, the Assassin Matter matter has not been resolved yet.
"Anyone with that kind of heart can become a hero."
After all, that's how nature has always been.
"A world where everyone shines like stars."
I like that too.
"That's great."
In the pitch-black darkness where Banjou light bloomed, a man with black hair and black eyes stood there.
There are no two homologous beings fighting each other here. There are no traces of their existence here. It seems that everything is just an illusion.
There is only the person they have been waiting for.
The man opened his eyes.
"Ash."
"Ah."
Ash responded.
"I'm back."
Chapter 87 The Returned Man
There was no blood, no traces of previous battles, there was only the man who haunted them.
"Ash."
With his back to the girls who were gradually opening their eyes, the man in a black trench coat slowly turned around, allowing them to see the face and smile that had appeared countless times in their dreams not long ago.
"My name is Ash."